International records / OpenAlex research

Divine Kingship in West Africa

In Africa divine are still to be found performing ritual functions even under the changed conditions of modern times. Attention is drawn here to two of the most prominent peoples of West Africa, the Ashanti of the Gold Coast and the Yoruba of Nigeria. The kings, now often called or paramount chiefs, were addressed as kings by early European travellers and administrators until this present century. They were sovereign rulers, divine kings, both traditional and charismatic, in Weber's terms. Some of them ruled over million and more people. The Ashanti state is composed of number of divisions cal…